


cloudy evenings under the dead star sky

by AikoIsari



Series: Digimon No Verse [23]
Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Frontier, Digimon Story (Video Games), Digimon World Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Animal Transformation, Canonical Character Death, Dysfunctional Family, Family, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Orphans, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-09-25 01:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9797339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AikoIsari/pseuds/AikoIsari
Summary: (Frontier/Dusk/slight World) AU. Kouichi died. So the fact that he's hatching to the hands of this tiny purple girl is weird. But it seems she needs someone to look after her in her recently orphaned state and with the status of his home universe unclear, he might as well. One thing is obvious: second chances are weird.





	1. Are You Born With Dignity?

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Canonical character death and past parent death. (mention) also slight regression and animal transformation.

People said 'do not go gentle into that good night'. It was in a poem somewhere. One in English.

' _Rage, rage against the dying of the light.'_

Someday, he might need to hear that poem in its entirety. If he lived. Kouichi didn't think he would, however. You didn't take Light and Darkness into your body and live, especially since technically, he wasn't really living at all.

He'd… never told Kouji that, had he? They all had figured that when a human died it was over, the end. It probably was. Humans didn't have eggs. Humans were born and died and didn't come back though eggs did get fertilized. It wasn't the same idea at all, was it? Not even close.

But he had already been dead or something, hadn't he? He'd already been dead or dying or at the very least comatose anyway so maybe he wasn't really dead or anything.

Was he dead? He probably was. He had given up his digital code, been absorbed, the whole thing that he had been doing to Digimon for all this time. He had almost done it to Kouji as well so maybe this was some kind of retribution? It was awfully specific for retribution. Wasn't he supposed to redeem himself as a plant first? His mother had been the more religious one, not him.

_Oh well. At least it doesn't hurt._

No, what hurt was remembering everyone's faces as that moment had come, seeing their horror and fear and how battered they were. That was what he remembered the most. Kouji had screamed, he thought. But maybe that was his brain making up something sentimental and untrue to comfort himself in this second end of days. At least it wasn't his life flashing before his eyes. His brain probably knew that would be desperately short and depressing and not even he deserved that pain.

It was as he thought this that Kimura Kouichi simply stopped thinking at all for a long time and only drifted away.

* * *

_When you die, you lose something. Nothing can change that fact, no matter how hard you try. That is why we Digimon forget everything and start over. But you, you who are caught in between both sides… what will you do?_

* * *

What felt like years passed before Kouichi had sensation again. That sensation came about with a heavy wall. He moved anything he could and hit something inevitably solid and recoiled on himself. It was only when he recoiled that he realized something possibly detrimental to his own sanity or lack thereof:

He didn't have any limbs.

As soon as he thought this, the darkness he was sitting in grew lighter in spots above his head. Or, as he looked around to realize, his whole body. He leaned up before he could stop himself, nose pressing towards the warm spots of wall overhead. He froze a bit, letting the heat touch his surprisingly cold body.

Was it just him, or were the walls getting closer?

No. No, that was just him. That was only him and his wild imagination. They weren't getting closer. They were certainly getting warmer, the light spreading from them comforting and close by. He didn't mind this light, no in fact he really liked it. It soothed the beating of his heart or whatever was in his chest. He wanted it to stay, to get as close to him as possible.

Then it started to crack. At first he didn't notice, the heat warming what seemed to be snow white fur. The sound was so soft, he didn't notice until there was one particularly loud cracking sound.

Fear dropped into his stomach.

Where was the cracking coming from? Was something going to hit him while it broke and what would happen if it broke underneath his body? Perhaps it was the panic, but Kouichi didn't realize the way his thoughts were turning. Grim and solemn were a somewhat norm for him sure, but this childish panic was something he did not recognize. Not like this anyway.

He whimpered at the sound as it grew, trying to save himself by shrinking as small as he was able. Before he could close his eyes, however, the light began to grow brighter. It had gone from pleasant to slightly unbearable. But he had nowhere to go, so it was all he could do to be the tiniest fluffball he could be.

As the cracks spread like feelers, another sound reached his now very sensitive ears. It was the sound of a young voice. They were letting out hiccuping little sobs or trying to contain them. Kouichi looked up past the light.

_Why is that person crying? What are they going through right now? Where… are they?_

_If the world breaks, could I meet them?_

" **Kouichi!"**

That voice… That was a very strange voice indeed. IT sounded a lot like his own.

" **Kouichi! Wait!"**

"No," he said, finding his heartbeat starting to slow, the world beginning to calm. "I can't wait. I think they're calling me."

If they weren't calling him, or at least needed someone like him, he wouldn't be able to hear them, surely.

" **I'm calling you! It's me!"**

"No, it's not," he finally said, feeling a strange roiling in his insides. "They're crying."

" **So am I!"**

That voice needed to stop arguing with him. In a desperate pique of annoyance, Kouichi began to bounce up and down, cracking the ground he had been so terrified of losing mere moments before. He was going to get out of here.

" **They cannot bring you back like this, Kouichi!"**

_Back? Back where?_

But the cracks were spreading, and the idea of pausing and stopping did not appeal to Kouichi anymore. He continued to bounce until he hit his head on the ceiling and kept right on going until he fell back down again with a frantic yelping bark. When the stinging sensation faded away from his bottom, he opened his eyes.

The room was dark, which didn't really bother him. The air was heavier than he expected, which did bother him. Voices came through thin doors, whispers on whispers and adult mutterings. Kouichi swiveled his body around. That heavy voice from before was gone. So was the sobbing. This time, he could actually think a little.

Kouichi. The voice had called him that. So he was Kouichi. Or that was his name. But who was that? And what was he now? Everything was so blurry.

Well, everything on the inside was blurry. Outside, everything was becoming clearer and clearer, like cleaning off a pair of glasses. He saw shadows moving outside the thin door. After he spun himself all the way around, he had to flop and droop for a moment. Kouichi could never remember finding moving around this exhausting before.

_Before you had legs._

Oh. Well, that might explain things..

He made himself look up, black eyes large and taking in all that they can. He saw a small thing huddled half a meter away or so. Tear tracks line their face.

 _Human_ , he thought, because that made sense. Humans existed. He must be with humans. Maybe… maybe he even was a human once. That would be bizarre. Imagine that. If he had been, he certainly didn't look like this one. He began to hop closer, to see them better. They flinched and the tears silently rolled down their face.

"Why are you crying?" he asked before he could stop himself. This must have been the voice from earlier, the one that had created the warmth in the world -his _egg_ \- and yet they were so unhappy. To his currently befuddled mind this did not make sense, so therefore he had to make sense of it. He didn't know why he felt obligated to do so. He just did.

The human child had no obligation to answer him of course. But she -it was a girl, yes? It seemed like one but he was starting to forget the difference between one human and the next- did seem to be looking at him so perhaps she might tell him the answer to this question, since she probably couldn't tell him who she was .That would be asking too much, more than likely.

She sniffled and yes that sounded very much like a girl. Not like the one or few he had known but definitely a girl. He bounced a little closer. "You hatched..."

Well, that didn't answer his question at all. "I heard you crying," Kouichi told her, searching for a more complicated answer. For some reason, he didn't like it very much. He didn't like that his brain was running without him and going too slow and not saying enough. It felt like he was supposed to be more, much more. "Why?" Because crying made him think of a woman in a bed, clutching his thin human fingers and oh-

He remembered now. At least something.

" _You have a brother. His name… is Kouji."_

Yes, if nothing else he could remember that and it was very important, very necessary that he remember that simple fact. He had a brother, he knew his name and his brother was related to why he was like this now. Yes, those were certainties.

But so was the fact that he was now about the point where he could hop into this child's lap. "Who are you?" he asked once more. "And why are you crying? You don't have to cry anymore. I'm here now."

"S-" She couldn't even get her name out before she picked him up and bawled anew.

Someone slid open the door. "Oh here's where you've been Sayo." Kouichi's fur fluffed up. "And he hatched… he hatched for you, I see."

The girl could not control her sniffling too well. "Y-Yeah..."

"That's a start, isn't it?" The bystander encouraged. They had a very strange smell. "Your parents would want you to not be alone now."

The girl nodded.

Kouichi chewed on his lip for lack of something to bite. He was here so the little girl wasn't alone.

He thought he knew what it was like to be alone. So… this was fine. He could do this.

After all, what could be harder than dying?


	2. It's Okay to Be This Way

Bouncing everywhere was, Kouichi found within two hours of being alive and hatched, _really exhausting._ He wanted legs. He desperately wanted legs. They would be great. To be fair he had only been actually alive for like: ten minutes, but still.

Lucky for him, his new little girl was a very observant child, even with the utter depression in her eyes, because she then proceeded to cradle him in her tiny arms wherever she walked.

To be fair, he was being mean. She hadn't cried in a good like: hour or two. Her eyes were still puffy, purple circles staring at the figures outside. But she hadn't cried. She was staring instead, bloodshot and suspicious.

"They gonna take me home?" she asked abruptly, her voice a hoarse choke.

The woman, who he still didn't know, shook her head with a simple ease that Kouichi wished he could do. "They burned it down, Sayo."

Kouichi felt the little girl's whole body stiffen up and he growled. He remembered a small apartment with worn out shutters. He remembered a woman who came home late, thin slender fingers with his own self putting a white pad over her back. Her soft sighs, the way she barely touched her dinner., the way that woman would fall asleep almost into her food, it was familiar. It was like this, but only just. IT was the same sort of emotion.

The girl's hand fell on his head, soft and comforting already, even though they were completely new to each other.

"Where'm I gonna go then?" Sayo's stiff shoulders went down in a lowering slope of possibly despair. Kouichi couldn't be certain. "Uncle and Auntie aren't here."

"They should be soon." The woman didn't seem to disbelieve it, but there was an edge of honey to her words. Kouichi had never heard _that_ before either.

The girl kicked out her feet in what was probably exasperation, but she did not deny this. "Am I going with them?"

The young woman sighed. "You'd better. Or there will be hell to pay, I promise you that. We cn't trust you with anyone else."

The girl bit her lip and nodded. Her fingers eased on his head. Not that she had pulled out any furs, but he was grateful anyway. Kouichi licked her free hand. She almost smiled. He liked that. Yes, he liked that a _lot._ And maybe that was because he was so small and puppy now. Was puppy an adjective? It must be. Oh he wished for a moment that he had a tail. Or paws. Just other things beyond the tongue that he could use to show his appreciation. She didn't seem to mind either way, which was good.

"Why here?" he yipped out. Both females looked at him with that human bewilderment that he recognized from a past he could not return to. "Why are you here? Why burn things?" As far as he knew, burning was restricted to getting rid of things that were no longer useful or for evil people. Or something. Or new life, maybe, at best.

Sayo curled up on herself once more and her answer took a moment or two to decipher. She, simply put, had no idea. Well, that wasn't helpful at all.

"Some prejudices." The woman made a face of irritation. Then it softened. "For now, we'll put you two to bed. Understood?"

Bed? Bed meant sleep. Bed meant he was tired. But he was not tired. Though Sayo was probably. Everything bad had happened all at once. It would be good for her to get some rest. She was trembling like a leaf again. This time it seemed less out of fear. Seemed more of need to give up, need to end.

"Sleep." He barked. He ignored the strange voice that said if he went to sleep, that he wouldn't wake. What silliness. He would be fine. "Let's sleep."

Sayo looked at him slowly. Then he reached out and pet behind a small yet floppy ear. "Okay."

Because what else was there to do?

* * *

Kouichi woke up feeling freezing cold.

Sayo seemed to be asleep, and when his cold nose touched hers she shivered. Kouichi shook himself and stood up on his stubby legs. Then he paused. Legs. He had legs! There were this weird pink shade but, but he had legs! He didn't know why this made him so happy, but just attempting to walk felt so much better. So much more familiar.

Before his legs had been taller and stronger, covered in armor and glowing with strength and darkness alike. Before, he'd had swords and a lance and… and wings and-

Red, red, so much red.

His legs gave out and he flops onto the floor. His tongue lolled out of his mouth and he shivered at the cold. He whined and struggled to roll over. His legs only kicked up feebly and he frowned. That wasn't good, right? He should be able to walk more, right? Kouichi let out another helpless whine.

There was a movement of sheets followed by a soft thud, and then more smaller thuds. Then, Sayo's small hands reached out and picked him up by his sides. Kouichi wanted to squirm, but she hugged him close.

The chill vanished.

"Don't run away," she told him with a small tremor. "You're gonna be tired when you evolve like that. Mama says- Mama said so."

Kouichi had to ignore the small pauses and hitches of breath. Otherwise he would go mad, and he did not know why he wanted to. Getting mad, attacking others out of rage, it made him… quiver on the inside.

He nodded his upper body once more and she tucked him under her chin. She was a comforting warmth, something and he licked her throat.

 _She's good,_ he thinks in the back of his mind. Shaking, sleepy, worn, it reminds him of that person from before, but he also thinks of a limp thing, carried intwo large arms and by a screaming person.

But that was so far away.

Kouichi closed his eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

There was a miracle she was supposed to create, a happy ending.

But could it be called unhappy when it was woefully incomplete?

She had lost Kimura Kouichi.

Tailmon wasn't quite certain of how it had happened. She had died yes, but there had been a sliver of a tether due to Cherubimon, and through Patamon. Regardless, she couldn't, somehow, see him. It was like he had left the universe entirely. Which wasn't as impossible in this world. Animals and monsters talked here after all. Why was this all that surprising?

Tailmon lashed her tail and paced the disorganized library. Her librarians, and she herself, were much too small to do what needed to be done, but that was a minor frustration in comparison.

"You're thinking very hard."

Tailmon lifted her head and then a single paw. "Angemon."

"Afraid so." He alighted next to her. "No Tururiemon?"

"Delayed by a broken-down Trailmon, I'm afraid. He has no taste for flying anymore, unfortunately." Angemon shook his head with a fond smile. "Aside from of course, when _he_ flies."

She laughed and then made a face. "We should go to him. Being alone does none of us any favors."

Angemon scooped her up without asking, earning a light scratch to his face. "Aye, it does not, you are correct." He took off from her window. She would scold him later. When it wasn't too hot for her to run. "So," He began after a while. "What has your brow so furrowed?"

"I cannot reach Kouichi."

The sobriety of her voice made him take pause. "Do you think Tururiemon has a chance?"

"If he doesn't, the spirits might." She scratched one ear. "But I would rather we discuss it together." She sighed. "I know he continues. Somewhere."

"Wouldn't Kouji have a better chance than us?" Angemon dodged a passing Piyomon flock as he spoke, eyes sparkling behind his visor at the sight of the lone Trailmon chugging along just below.

"Do you want to give them false hope?"

"Don't answer a question with a question."

Angemon laughed, and freely at that, circling below to the train. "Want to give him a grand entrance?"

The worry lifted from Tailmon's eyes and she nodded. He let her fall, and she shrieked laughter. It was all worth it for Tururiemon's disgruntled, and reluctant amusement.

* * *

Minamoto Kouji met his birth mother for the first time in an ICU room. From a woman with such a sad smile in every photograph, he had half expected to find her inconsolable, a mess of noise and bitter swaths of resentment towards him. But all she did was smile and pull him tight to her chest. It broke all decorum, all that he knew and could control. At the same time, being held like that, framing his vision of an immobile Kouichi and the IV drip, Kouji couldn't stop the thoughts that flittered in and out.

He had kind of wanted this after all. Only, if only the circumstances were better.

So he hugged her back, hesitating until he could grip her shirt.

"Does your father know you're here?" she asked. Her voice was soft and soothing. Kouichi had made him think of that, of everything stereotypical with a mother. It was close to Satomi, without the discomfort. Mom. Both moms. He had to do something about this.

"Yeah." No. He kicked himself. He shouldn't lie. His dad knew he was out, but most children were.

His birth mother smiled. She knew. "You lie like he does, much too quickly."

That brought up a whole host of questions, ones that burst in his throat. But Kouji looked at his brother instead. "What's wrong with him?"

"Skull fracture, concussion." Her response was so rote and quick it made him wince. His mother brushed his bandanna down. "They're more surprised he is alive… and they don't know how long he will stay that way."

The mother Kouji had envisioned was a soft, kind woman. She bore things and hid suffering from others. She needed someone to help her, to make things easier.

Some of this was right. But she was so much more than that.

He looked at Kouichi, who seemed to sleep on. His D-Scanner sat in his pocket, silent and still. But it wouldn't turn into his phone again.

None of them had.

**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't sleep without posting this. Happy Valentine's Day remi! Also I know, stop writing sayo, you say. I say: nooooooooo.
> 
> Challenges: February Secret Multichap Advent exchange gift (for a remi!) (first prompt 24, make) Advent 2016, day 25, write a gift fic, epic masterclass (frontier list) 4 AU, Diversity Writing K24, Monthly Restrict 29, write something ending and something else beginning


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